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Cheltenham Gold Cup 2010 Review
19/03/10

Imperial Commander
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In the build-up to the 2010 Cheltenham Festival, the focus was firmly on Kauto Star and Denman and the battle for the totesport Gold Cup. The leading players did not stick to the script but Cheltenham’s managing director Edward Gillespie hailed the emergence of a new star in the shape of Imperial Commander from Nigel Twiston-Davies’s nearby Naunton stable.

Gillespie said: “Today was exactly what Cheltenham is all about. You can’t write scripts and the most important thing is that the Gold Cup runners all came home safely.

“The Gold Cup was a fantastic horse race. You could watch it again for hours. Every fence was so dramatic.

“I was standing on the lawn behind a lady wearing a Kauto Star scarf and shouting for Denman and AP the whole way round. That’s exactly what you’d expect from Cheltenham.”

Paying tribute to the Gold Cup-winning team, he added: “I’m also thrilled for Nigel (Twiston-Davies) and Carl (Llewellyn) and the team there. They’re our neighbours here in Gloucestershire and suddenly there’s a new superstar just when we think we’ve got two already.

“People just so adore the Festival and are always reluctant to leave. We’ll have to push them out of the door at the end of today.”

Paddy Brennan, the winning rider on Imperial Commander, said: “It’s by far the best day of my life. I will never, never forget this. I am speechless - whatever I talk now could be absolute bull! It was just a dream the whole way. That Denman, he never goes away, does he? I just want to take time to thank my boss. He is by far the best boss in racing. He has produced two horses this week to the second. I just want to say thank you. I am absolutely shocked and it hasn’t sunk it yet. Paul Nicholls just came and said well done and I hope that Kauto Star is all right - he’s up and OK and that is the main thing. I always believed in this fellow - he’s very good and he is still very young - and he could be around for a while. I will never forget this day for the rest of my life. When you are born as a child and you grow up and look at the very best jockeys riding - Richard Dunwoody, Tony McCoy - you never dream of this. It’s absolutely unbelievable. This will never be repeated. I am sure winning the Grand National would be special but this is the main race at the main meeting, this is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. I have won it now and it’s a tremendous achievement for me. I am so happy to have that got me there. He is some ride over that trip and he was travelling so well. You have to give a lot of credit to Denman - he wouldn’t go away turning in and I just wanted to get the rail. After the last he has picked up and won like a good horse. He’s special and he doesn’t need to improve on this. I just went by the line and put the quiet sign up because he was probably a little bit forgotten coming into the race. What Kauto Star and Denman do for racing is superb but this lad is right there now.”

Nigel Twiston-Davies, the winning trainer, said: “I saw Kauto was in trouble a long way out and I was feeling quite confident. All you hacks say that he doesn’t stay so we will go for the Ryanair Chase next year! It has been very difficult sitting with the third favourite, especially with all of that about Kauto Star and Denman - we always knew that we were going to bloody win, or at least we hoped that we would! It’s lovely! We are at home, the pub will go mad this evening, we are where we belong! I thought that it was all of our Christmases coming together and I am delighted. This is the Olympics of jump racing and we have won it and thank goodness. You can’t beat the Grand National but this is good for the CV. We were second in the Champion Hurdle, which was a disaster, but this is brilliant. I was getting sick of everyone saying that he couldn’t stay. Why, why, why couldn’t he stay? Every time he has come to Cheltenham he has powered up the hill and he has always stayed. Paddy gave him a beautiful ride - very cool, very sensible. He got him jumping with plenty of room at his fences and that is all a horse needs. Denman was brilliant - I saw him Newbury and I thought that perhaps he wasn’t the horse he was but he certainly was today.”

Kauto Star
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Ruby Walsh, whose mount Kauto Star, the 8/11 favourite, fell four out said about the first mistake the horse made at the eighth fence: “It was a bad mistake and obviously had an effect on him - after that I could not get a position or on an even keel. You cannot make a mistake like that with horses of the calibre of Imperial Commander and Denman in front of you. You are always struggling then and fighting a lost cause. You make mistakes, you pay the price. It is not as simple as turning up and collecting the prize money. Kauto Star was up after the fall before I was. He was going by me and I caught him. It is always a relief when a good horse like him gets up and is OK. There is not a bother on him. It would have been the worst day if he wasn’t all right. He’s all right, I’m all right - there will be another day - It is disappointing but it is not the end of the world.”

Denman (right)
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Tony McCoy (second on Denman) said: “Second is better than third and better than Ruby ended up with. I am still disappointed. At times he travelled well - coming down the hill he got hold of the bit but when he went by the water he wanted to drop the whole lot. He ran bit in snatches but he ran his heart out. He did not do anything wrong but was beaten by a better horse on the day. I really enjoyed riding him - it is a shame he got beat. When you go out, you think that Kauto Star is the only horse what will beat you but when something else does it is disappointing. He jumps better when you can get him on the bridle. He can sulk for a little bit but you just have to pick him up. Then you feel you are riding a completely different horse and he will do anything for you. He is a very tough horse - I don’t see why he cannot come back. He would be a good ride in the Grand National but I am not sure I will be able to get Ruby (Walsh) off.”

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